Those who felt that LCD's This IS Happening was too downbeat will find From Cradle To The Rave a perfect remedy, fashioning an obviously derivative but irresistible transatlantic electro-pop. [Oct 2010, p.105]

Dig deeper, though, and what we have here is a record more in line with the excellent, vengeful Americana of frontman Michael Gira's latter-day Angels Of Light fare. [Oct 2010, p.106]

The result is Roots Manuva's most purely pleasurable long-player. [Oct 2010, p.105]

It's halfway between Kim Wilde and truly wild, and, as such, hugely entertaining. [Oct 2010, p.97]

A solid if formulaic record. [Nov 2010, p.94]

Sadier's intonation can be awkward, but her compassionate yet detached voice remains as affecting as ever. [Nov 2010, p.97]

It's the sound of a man confronting his own inevitable end with humour and dignity. Let's hope he doesn't move on any time soon. As band OF Joy proves, this particular wellspring is far from dry. [Oct 2010, p.82]

Some sound like strange nursery rhymes; some like surreal Eurovision entries. All are very good indeed. [Oct 2010, p.85]

The blues remain a touchstone--the album's first line is "Woke up this Morning"--but Grinderman 2 prefers to prowl rock's perimeter with Amon Duul II, Suicide and contemporary drone practitioners like Wooden Shjips. [Oct 2010, p.86]

Their one great idea grows tiresome over an album's length. [Oct 2010, p.88]

A spring creeps into the step of "Sunday Afternoon" and "Telephone," providing a welcome break in the weather from a band who conform a little too readily to Henry Ford's dictum of having any colour you like so ling as it's black. [Oct 2010, p.87]

An interim record before their next assault, perhaps. [Oct 2010, p.87]

Cocteau Twins, MBV and Angelo Badalamenti are obvious touchstones for the narcotised, heat0haze beauty of Penny Sparkle, which might stupefy were it not for the stylishly gloomy "Love Or Prison" and the deliciously frost-bitten "Oslo." [Oct 2010, p.87]

There's an intriguing version of Michael Jackson's "Human Nature" and tunes by Monk and Ellington alongside originals that lurch from freaky modernism to stately classical. [Oct 2010, p.108]

The Charlatans make commendable attempts to expand their creative horizons. [Oct 2010, p.88]

Gonzalez's cooing voice tends to sing the same pentatonic scale over the same minor chords on every song, which does make things a little repetitive. [Oct 2010, p.98]

Roots For Ruin burns with their reignited love of Fugazi, Pixies and Pavement. [Oct 2010, p.98]

The stripped-down, Muscle Shoals-style arrangements give Mavis space to do her thing, and the song choices are spot-on. [Oct 2010, p.106]

With experiments in disco, dubstep and drum'n'bass all unmistakably Underworld, Barking is the sound of veterans re-energised. [Oct 2010, p.

Barnes' lyrics remain a stumbling block. [Oct 2001, p.98]

The albums three producers create a gloopy mix of mid-'80s soft rock and air-punching choruses which lack the urgency of the Killers, while the gambling metaphors and religious images quickly irritate. [Oct 2010, p.94]

The Vaselines were more of an idea than a reality, but this revival, with Kelly joined by founding member Frances McKee, Belle And Sebastian's Stevie Jackson and Bob Kildea, plus 1990s drummer Michael McGaughrin, shows they have finally perfected the art of being Just Dumb Enough. [Sep 2010, p.108]

Booth's increasingly Morrissey-esque voice has a richer and more expressive timbre these days, even if the band's loose, liquid melodies sometimes lack focus. [Oct 2010, p.97]

He reins in the Liberace-meets-Lenny Bruce schtick on his sixth album, a curiously anodyne effort helmed by Berlin electro buccaneer Boyz Noize. [Oct 2010, p.89]

This is their sixth album and inevitably some jazzy ostentation has crept in, but generally there's a warm, graceful fluidity to Skit I Allt's billowing jams that remains uniquely beguiling. [Oct 2010, p.94]

This third album is even better, his voice smoother, more assured, and the tunes equally as confident. [Nov 2010, p.92]

"Normal" offers the most accessible punk foot-tapper that races past but leaves you wanting more. [Nov 2010, p.97]

Listening to the ramalama of "Slow Drip" and "Hot Tubes" you can't help but cheer them on. [Nov 2010, p.102]